Bike and bus tour to commemorate victims of 1919 Chicago Race Riot, now honored with historical markers
Monday marks 107 years since the start of the 1919 Chicago Race Riot, and a seven-mile bike and bus tour of sites related to the history of the riot is planned for this weekend.
The riot started on July 27, 1919, after the murder of 17-year-old Eugene Williams. Williams, who was Black, was on a raft in Lake Michigan when he accidentally drifted into an area reserved for whites.
A group of whites threw stones at Williams, causing him to drown. No one was arrested, which fueled outrage and violence through Chicago's South Side. Whites and police attacked African Americans as Black soldiers stood guard. A total of 38 people died and more than 500 were hurt.
About 5,000 families were also left homeless.
Dr. Peter Cole and Dr. Franklin Cosey-Gay are co-directors of the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project. Cole said the 1919 riot still impacts us in 2026.
"Chicago is notorious for being very segregated. That didn't just happen sometime randomly. It happened after the 1919 Race Riots, where basically political and business elites in the city chose segregation. Eugene Williams was murdered for being in a white part of the lake. Today, we still have people who are killed or sometimes harassed for being in the wrong place," Cole said. "Right now, Black History is being erased by the current presidential administration. This matters now because if we don't talk about it, it disappears, and then we suddenly don't know our history. And if I don't know my history, I don't know who I am."
The commemoration project recently completed the installation of 38 markers, one for each person killed in the riot. The handcrafted glass memorial markers were created by youth artists who are survivors of violence, in partnership with Firebird Community Arts' Project FIRE.
The memorials are embedded at sites throughout Chicago and near the locations where the victims lost their lives.
"We know it's very important to have public art, because you are able to engage individuals who might not be looking to engaged. You know, you don't have to go to a library. You don't have to attend a lecture. But you can just be walking in a public space, said Cosey-Gay. "We thought it was very important to the history of segregation and violence to survivors of violence today."
One of the 38 markers can be found at 200 S. Wabash Ave., in the middle of the Loop, honoring the life of riot violence victim Paul Hardiwck.
"Paul Hardiwck was a Black man who worked at the Palmer House, and a mob of white people just steps from where we currently stand were looking for random Black people to attack," Cole said in an interview at the CBS Chicago Broadcast Center downtown. "Two people were killed in the Loop. It didn't just happen in one little part of the city — across 30 square miles of our city, including just a few blocks from here."
The 8th annual CRR19 Historic Bike and Bus Tour starts at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 25, at Eugene Williams Memorial Plaza, located along the Lakefront Trail a couple of blocks north of 31st Street in Burnham Park. The ride ends at Illinois Institute of Technology Parking Lot D5, on the north side of 35th Street between the Chicago Transit Authority Green Line 'L' tracks and De La Salle Institute.
"This is a slow roll. We have children from 5 years old — my nieces, my daughters have participated — to our senior population," said Cosey-Gay. "So we have a slow roll that covers not only the significance of the riots itself, but also the individuals and institutions that were important towards resistance against that, that still stand to this day. So it is an opportunity for everyone to ride."
A bus trolley will be available for up to 40 riders for anyone not able to ride a bicycle.
"We stop multiple locations in Bronzeville and Bridgeport to tell the history of 1919, the legacy of 1919, but also to celebrate… really the resilience of the Black community," said Cole.
This is also the first bike tour since all 38 markers for the victims of violence during the riot have been completed.
Check-in for the ride starts at 9:15 a.m. Organizers recommend using in IIT Parking Lot D5, which is free, as parking near the 31st Street Beach costs money and is expected to fill up.
